Edible Ottawa

The Food Needs to Have a Story

• Photo by Ben Welland

  The Dish is a recurring feature. We talk to a chef about a dish that's meaningful to them and reveals more about them — their inspiration, influences and next moves.

• Executive chef, Walid El-Tawel, describes the concept for Fairouz as a "modern journey through the Middle East."

• “I fell in love with [Middle Eastern cuisine] all over again,” he says, “I wanted to see how I could do what was on grandma’s table for the modern world.”

• The mujaddara is a cinnamon and lentil rice dish with fried onions, topped with yogurt, and the spoon salad marries diced cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion and pomegranate seeds with a bright hit of acid and a hint of sweetness from lemon juice and pomegranate syrup.